Chapter 26 Kiera
KIERA
I stared into the mini-fridge, trying to ignore the skin prickling at the nape of my neck. It was a nice addition to the room — one of many my captors had made over the past few days — but despite the luxury, it just didn’t match up to the selection down in the kitchen.
I shut the door with a sigh, pulling on an old flannel as I headed for the door. It was hard not to feel guilty that they’d hauled this thing all the way up here just for me to choose the food downstairs. But at least it had been funny to watch them haul it.
The lifting wasn’t a challenge — they hardly broke a sweat on the main landing. It was the sharp angles of these old English hallways that tripped them up. Watching Leo and Spencer try to squeeze this thing around a corner was like watching two clowns turning a freighter.
Though I doubted most clowns were built like marble statues.
The mini fridge was mostly useful for the times that I was locked up. But no matter how many books and plush throws and cute candles they added to my room, we all knew that it was a glorified holding cell. A temporary one at that.
Absent-mindedly, I swung the door open. But was abruptly stopped in my tracks at the two bodies in front of my door.
Hands full with moving boxes and trash bags, Spencer and Leo smiled up at me.
Leo’s voice was raspy. “Morning, Princess.”
“Delivery.” Spencer winked.
All I could do was step to the side, my face scrunched up in confusion as I watched them step inside. After they returned with another load of boxes, I shook my head. “What the fuck is all of this?”
“Take a look.” Leo smirked as she gestured to the pile of boxes forming next to the nearly unused closet.
Slower, I moved toward it. I tugged at the knot on the garbage bags, ripping the plastic open as my jaw dropped. Sticking my hand inside, I rifled through the bag. “Where the fuck? How the fuck?”
As I sifted through the bag, I recognized every piece of clothing. Still too stunned to speak, I lifted the lid on the bankers boxes. More and more of my stuff, stuff from Gabe’s apartment.
Some boxes were full of photo frames and paintings, yearbooks and scrapbooks. Others had underwear, socks. Most bizarre of all, a kitchen box full of Gabe’s nicest utensils — including his expensive German knives.
“These aren’t even mine… how did you… even know where he lived?” My mouth had been hanging open the entire time.
Leo let out a sigh, leaning against the doorway. “He’s not a hard guy to find. Just looked for guys named Gabe who came into a hospital with fight wounds. Traced everything back. Snuck in, grabbed your stuff.”
Shaking my head, I glared at my two angels. “That’s a crime.”
“Only if we get caught.” Spencer smirked. “Get changed into something comfortable, Bunny. We’ll be in the living room when you’re ready.”
In the silence of my room, the act really hit me. All I’d had to do was tell Leo one time how much I missed having my things. And these two had snapped their fingers and made it so.
But as I got changed, slipping on the loose sweats I’d had since I moved out of Maura’s house, one thought wouldn’t leave my mind.
They know how to break and enter. How to steal hospital records.
Even if they had wings on that tattoo of theirs, they weren’t angels.
I swallowed my nerves as I trodded down the stairs.
There was no use in getting too comfortable here — even if Leo and Spencer seemed hellbent on making this my home much to Dom’s annoyance.
Spencer and Leo were nice enough, but Dom was a goddamn monster waiting for her first chance to sink her teeth into me.
My saviors might be able to fend her off for now, but I wasn’t stupid.
Dom’s “kindness” of letting me stay here wouldn’t last forever.
I couldn’t live like a caged tiger forever. I needed to start making other plans so that when Dom finally kicked me out, I might land on my feet. And right now, more than anything, I just needed to stretch my fucking legs.
I passed through the long hallway at the base of the stairs, keeping my eyes ahead as my ears listened out for any signs of life. Despite the growling in my stomach, I never made it to the kitchen.
As I passed the door to the living room, my eyes caught on Leo first. She sat on the left side of the couch with one arm draped over the back, the other elbow pressed into the arm while she propped her head up with a fist. She was dressed in a tight black t-shirt with the sleeves cuffed to reveal her tattoos and a loose pair of green joggers.
Beside her, Spencer was sprawled across the right side, one long leg draping down the front of the couch while the other propped up on the vintage coffee table. Her heather gray muscle tee drooped low at the armpits, hiding very little.
A week with Spencer was enough to tell me that that was exactly her intention.
Her skin was bare, no sports bra in sight, but as she grasped the back of her neck, it wasn’t just bulging muscle that she revealed.
There was a delicate tattoo along her ribcage, too hard to make out from the doorway, but—
“Stare much?” Spencer laughed, flicking her hungry gaze up and down my body. “If I knew you liked to watch so much, I would have put on more of a show.”
I crossed my arms, ignoring her as my gaze to the crystal bowl of Doritos on the coffee table. “Mind if I have some?”
Leo sat forward, lifting the bowl toward me. “Come. What's ours is yours.”
I crossed the room, plucking a chip from the bowl as I glanced over at the TV. “Cartoons?”
Scoffing, she held a hand over her heart. “Did you just call Bojack Horseman a cartoon?”
I furrowed my brows at her before returning my gaze to the animated horse in the blue sweater grumbling on the TV. “I mean, what else would you call it?”
“Art!” Spencer piped in, patting her lap. “Come sit. It’s time you got an education in art history.”
I knew that the gesture was meant to fluster me, but I wasn’t going to let Spencer have that power. Popping another Dorito in my mouth, I plopped down next to her, close enough for our thighs to press. “So what’s this all about?”
“No, no no.” Leo swiped up the remote, clicking back to the first episode. “If we’re going to do this, we’re going to do it right.”
She returned her arm to the back of the couch just as the opening credits rolled. Even without touching, I could feel the warmth radiating off of her, could feel the draw to snuggle up into her arms.
It was crazy how comfortable I’d gotten with my captors in a few short days. But they’d already seen me at my worst the night they found me. And as far as first impressions went… I’d made better ones.
It was a whole lot easier to open up though when your reputation couldn’t sink any lower. Not that they ever made me feel judged for what happened that night. If anything, I’d wager they might be softer on me because of it.
That and the huge crush they were both harboring for me, against all reason. I’d tried telling them I was straight, but if they wanted to be masochists about it, there wasn’t much I could do to stop them.
I wouldn’t say that I was indulging the flirting, but there was no point playing obtuse about it, either. Everyone in the world wanted something. And as long as I was being honest with them about their chances, was it so wrong to use what I had to get what I wanted?
As the episode came to an end and the autoplay timer counted down, Spencer snatched up the remote to pause it. “So, what’d you think?”
“Pretty good.” I nodded, leaning back into the couch.
“Pretty good?” Spencer balked, throwing up her hands.
Leo shook her head beside us. “You’ve gotta give it a season at least. Once it catches its footing, that pretty good skyrockets to fucking amazing.”
I turned to face her, pretending not to notice as my body pressed closer to Spencer’s. “You think I’ll be around long enough to catch a whole season?”
The Major swallowed, an earnest smile playing at her lips. “I sure hope so.”
I shrugged. “Not sure your landlord feels the same way.”
Leaning closer over my shoulder, Spencer whispered in my ear. “Don’t worry, Bunny. We can always hide you in my room if she complains.”
“Yeah, right,” I laughed, sitting up. “As if my own room isn’t stuffy enough.”
Suddenly, concern creased Leo’s brow. “Is the stuff we got you not helping? Do you need me to pick you up something from the store?”
I shook my head, a twinge of guilt biting at the pit of my stomach. “No, no, nothing like that. It’s all wonderful, honestly, it’s just… tight quarters when you spend half the day locked away in there.”
Leo nodded, biting her lip knowingly.
Spencer sighed. “I should be home some more tomorrow. If you want, I can set an early alarm. Give you a few more hours before I leave for work.”
I swiveled in my seat, letting my hand rest on Spencer’s forearm. “No, no, I don’t want you to have to do that. I was just wondering if…”
“If what?” Leo sat straighter, ducking her head to intercept my gaze.
“...maybe I can get some more freedom in the house?”
The suggestion landed with all the grace of a cannon ball, but I doubled down.
“I mean, I’ve been here for days and nothing’s gone wrong. I haven’t even broken a glass. Certainly it seems a bit extreme to keep me locked away in a room all day like some kind of prisoner, no?”
Leo scrunched her nose. “I mean, you’re not wrong. But Dom—”
“Dom can lock all the doors she wants.” I held her golden gaze. “I’m not asking for full access to the house. Just the kitchen, the living room, and the gym.”
Spencer sighed. “I hear you. But she’s really protective of the South Wing. And once you’re out of your room, there’s not really any locking you out of there.”
I laughed. “I have no interest in that construction site. When I leave here, I’d love to do that without having ingested any asbestos, thank you very much.”
That won a chuckle from Spencer, though Leo’s face was still riddled with worry. “Please? I’d settle for just the living room. I just… need to feel less caged.”
She bit her lip, eyes glimmering as she considered the request. But before she could open her mouth to respond, the front door slammed open, ending the negotiation before it started.
Leo met my gaze with an apologetic shrug. “We’ll talk about it later, alright?”
“Later. You promised.” I slunk back into my seat just in time for Dom’s thundering footsteps to crash over the living room, ruining everything like usual.
I might not know why she hated me, but what I did understand was why everyone in this house seemed to fear her. Maybe that was my problem: she could tell I wasn’t afraid of her tough guy act.
But while normally she would slink off to her room with that stupid pouty sulk, today, her face was beet red. One glance at the three of us on the couch only deepened the color. For once, she stopped in the doorway instead of running to hide upstairs.
Her eyes narrowed as they locked on me. “Still here?”
Of course she knew I was still here. She just couldn’t stop herself from digging the knife in deeper. Two could play that game.
“Nice of you to join us,” I muttered before patting my lap. “Care to take a seat?”
Her jaw dropped, shock taking over for just a second before that familiar scowl took its place. “I don’t know who you think you’re talking to, but let’s make one thing very clear. I wouldn’t touch you with a thirty-foot fucking pole, street rat.”
This time it was my face that burned as she shoved off the doorframe, shaking the wall as she left.
Leo let out a low whistle and shook her head. Spencer patted my shoulder, struggling to fight back a laugh. “Didn’t help your chances much there.”
“Whatever.” I reached for the remote, clicking on the next episode of the show. “She can pull the stick out of her ass and learn how to take what she dishes out. I’m over her.”
But as the opening theme played, I knew that what Spencer said was true.
My life would be hell here as long as I was on Dom’s bad side, which left me with two options: get on her good side, or get the fuck out of this mansion.